Nursing home neglect comes in many forms and one of those forms is medicine. Most of the time, medicine is used a chemical restraint. Over sedation can cause residents to become “easier to deal with.” However, other times, caretakers could be abusing prescription medications, and taking doses from their patients. Heidi Soland, 30, who used to work as a nursing assistant for the Broen Memorial Home in Fergus Falls, Minnesota has been charged with theft and neglect after allegedly stealing nine painkiller patches from patients in the home. She stole the Duragesic patches, a powerful narcotic, from four mentally and physically impaired patients. Staff members at the home said that they began to notice patches going missing last October. According to the Broen Memorial Administrator John Zwiers:
“We monitored when we placed them and when we take them off … noticed that some were taken off when they weren’t supposed to be … we came up with one suspect, and we called the police.”
Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty to Theft and Neglect
Soland was given a criminal neglect charge to for each victimized patient, along with a possession charge for the drug. Soland pleaded guilty in May to one felony theft and criminal neglect charge, and the rest of the charges from the incident were dropped. She was sentenced to 120 days in jail and was credited for 67 days served. She must also complete five years of probation.
It is always a shame when a person who is employed to care for a vulnerable elderly person takes advantage of their position for their own benefit. Soland neglected the needs of her patients by not giving them the painkillers that they needed and then abused her position by stealing the narcotics for herself. Zwiers said:
“In my 10 years, this is the first time that we’ve had somebody taking drugs like this … (People) stealing narcotic drugs will be prosecuted, and I think that people need to know that. And that is the way that we can stop it from moving forward in the future.”
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one is being taken advantage of, not given the medications they need, or you believe the care they are receiving is abusive or negligent, you should contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation. You may also call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, and (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
It is suggested that extreme time pressures may be the number one cause of wrong-site surgeries. Doctors are extremely busy people, and their schedules are not getting any less full. However, this does not mean that innocent people should be injured. Some surgeons have suggested a protocol to prevent wrong-site injury by requiring a pre-operative verification of important details, marking the surgical site, and a mandatory timeout to confirm everything before the procedure begins. When steps like these are not followed, preventable injuries occur. Sometimes, those injuries are fatal.
A 57-year-old woman was found unresponsive this week outside of the Riverview Nursing Home in Bossier City, Louisiana where she lived. The autopsy has not yet been performed, but Bossier Coroner Dr. John Chandler said there were indications that the death was heat-related. It was 100 degrees with a heat index of 106 degrees in Bossier City on the day the woman was found. She had been missing for several hours before a staff member of the nursing home found her a little after 6 p.m. She was taken to Willis Knighton Pierremont hospital in Shreveport where she was pronounced dead.
The data for this study, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined data gathered between 2003 and 2008: 2.1 million white nursing home residents and 346,808 black nursing home residents were studied. Although the overall number of bed sores has decreased in recent years, black patients still consistently maintained higher rates than white patients. White nursing home residents saw their total rate of bed sores decrease from 11.4 percent to around 9.6 percent in 2008. On the other hand, black nursing home residents saw their bed sore rate drop from 16.8 percent in 2003 to 14.6 percent in 2008, still significantly higher than their white counterparts. Bed sore attorneys say that the highest rates of bed sores in recent years come from black residents who live in nursing homes that have the highest concentrations of African American patients. They say that conversely, the lowest rate was among white nursing home patients who resided in homes with few or no black patients. Bed sores are a major problem in our country today and blacks and whites alike need to be aware of the potential danger that they present.
Nancy Kammerer, 56, of Urbandale, Iowa, alleged that her physicians mistakenly cut part of her pancreas while undertaking the transplant procedure in 2008. Her lawyers said that her pancreas needed to be removed after this mistake, leading Kammerer into a future of medical uncertainty. Kammerer was a special projects manager at Wells Fargo prior to her surgery, a position that she soon had to give up after the alleged medical negligence. Her medical malpractice attorneys said that Kammerer became an insulin dependent diabetic, which added further pain and medical troubles into her life. In her complaint, attorneys alleged that the error was due in part to an inaccurate medical record that was in her file. It is certainly an unfortunate situation, but they say that it is not uncommon. It is important for patients who have been victimized by medical negligence to seek legal advice in order to receive compensation for their potentially sky rocketing bills. Victims often have increased hospital bills, future medical expenses, and extreme pain and suffering, which occurs far too often.
Defective products attorneys work to serve two groups of people: their immediate clients who have been injured and are in need of compensation, and the public at large, who are put into harm’s way with a defective product.
85-year old Heartland Health Care Center – Kalamazoo resident, Dollie McGrew died this month when the facility van that was transporting her to a dental appointment at the University of Michigan hit the curb. McGrew was pronounced dead at the scene while the driver of the van was not injured. The details of the incident have not been released, but the driver of the van did have a valid driver’s license and the facility did report the death to the state.
Metzler’s medical malpractice attorney said that he had a colonoscopy in 2007 and a mere two years later he was told that he had hepatitis C. Metzeler is now seeking $20 million for himself, and $10 million for his wife due to loss of consortium. Three hospitals had allegedly failed to properly clean the medical equipment that was being used. The equipment was being rinsed after each patient but the proper method of cleaning would have been to sterilize the equipment with steam and chemicals. Medical malpractice attorneys say that it is quite clear that these procedures were done in an environment of inadequate training, lack of supervision, and inadequate communication. It is unclear how these cases will turn out at trial, with the Veterans’ Administration claiming that the chances that these vets contracted the diseases from this procedure are in some cases very small. As for Metzler, his medical malpractice attorney said “he feels terrible about it, he always took great care of himself. He ran, swam, ate healthy so he could have a good quality of life, and now he ends up with a serious health problem.”
McLean and Dirnberger, the plaintiffs, claim that Eldercare’s neglect led to the extreme pain that was inflicted due to the bed sores. Bed sore attorneys also believe that the plaintiffs will argue that the defendants have violated the Illinois’ Nursing Home Care Act because of their failure to properly recognize and treat a man who was so clearly in need of assistance. The complaint also alleges that the defendants failed to properly care for McLean’s sores, also known as decubitus ulcers, which arose on several parts of the man’s body. Professionals say that there may be a claim because it appears that these employees were not properly caring for the pressure ulcers. They also argue that the defendants may be liable for their failure to properly train staff to adequately monitor patients in need. Although the outcome will be decided by a jury down the road, bed sore attorneys urge victims to seek help from their families or any healthcare provider because these sores can be extremely detrimental to a person’s health.
On June 11, 2011 Juan David Hernandez, 28, who is a Colombian citizen and a resident of Florida, was arrested in Vancouver for obstruction of justice after he gave a false name when he was pulled over for an illegal turn by a police officer. According to Vancouver Police Det. Rick Stewart, “When they looked inside the vehicle’s front seat, they saw bags and bags of mail.” The bags were full of letters from all over the world containing checks for $30. After an investigation, they discovered that Hernandez was guilty of